Brandywyne Village in East Boston was recently recognized by the National Affordable Housing Management Association as an “Exemplary Family Property.”
One development was once among Boston’s most troubled and crime-ridden public housing projects. The other was billed as one of the city’s first moderate-income townhouse developments. Today, both developments share something in common – a national award that distinguishes them from other affordable housing across the country.
Mission Main in Roxbury and Brandywyne Village in East Boston were recently recognized in the National Affordable Housing Management Association’s annual Communities of Quality competition.
Every year, the Alexandria, Va.-based NAHMA selects three housing developments across the country to honor as outstanding affordable properties.
The properties are judged by how much they encourage residents’ involvement in planning and problem solving, their physical and financial condition and the overall quality of residential life, according to the NAHMA Web site.
Brandywyne Village and Mission Main were chosen from a group of about a dozen housing developments that were nominated by 19 NAHMA regional chapters.
Brandywyne Village received the group’s Exemplary Family Property award, while Mission Main was given the Outstanding Turnaround of a Troubled Property award.
The president of the company that manages Brandywyne Village said one of the most unique aspects of the only townhouse development in East Boston is its community-centered focus.
About four years ago, the management company spent some $600,000 to add a community center at Brandywyne Village, located on Saratoga Street at Orient Heights in East Boston. Residents of the 402 townhouse-style apartments can use the center for meetings, parties and other activities.
The center is home to a variety of social, educational and health-related programs for residents and features a computer learning center.
It is also used by Harvard University graduate-student volunteers who tutor and mentor children living at Brandywyne.
“The manager and staff were successful in developing the sense of community” that is missing in other similar developments, said Bill Kargman, president of First Realty Management Corp. and general partner of Brandywyne Village.
Built in 1968 by First Realty Co. of Boston – a company owned and run by Kargman’s father, Max Kargman – the apartments were originally intended to house working families who paid between $100 and $200 below market-rate rents to live there, Kargman said.
Brandywyne Village is currently a mixed-income community, housing elderly people and families. Some of the residents are Section 8 voucher holders, while others are working families.
This is not the first time Brandywyne Village has been recognized for its community focus. In 1998, the Boston Rental Housing Association gave the townhouse development the Community Excellence Award. The development has also won New England regional quality competitions.
In contrast, Mission Main, located in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, was long plagued by drug activity and other crimes.
About eight years ago, less than 1 percent of the households at Mission Main earned more than 60 percent of the area median family income each year and the number of children living in poverty was 42 percent higher than the rest of the city, according to NAHMA.
Recognizing the problems at Mission Main, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave a $50 million HOPE VI grant to the Boston Housing Authority in 1993 to bolster the property.
HOPE VI grants are given to cities to improve public housing developments by reducing density, adding resident services and taking the actual day-to-day management away from housing authorities and placing it in the hands of private entities.
The revitalization of Mission Main began three years ago, with its tenant task force participating in the design process and planning throughout.
Fannie Mae Foundation also poured millions of dollars into the project.
“They [Fannie Mae] made the largest investment they had ever made in the country [for a housing project],” said Linda Hamilton, general manager of Winn/Peabody/Cruz Management Co., Mission Main’s management firm.
The 535-unit mixed income complex is expected to be finished this fall. Ninety of the units are market-rate rentals, and the rest are subsidized. Managers are also trying to get funding to build 18 townhouses that would be sold, not rented.
Today, renters of the market-rate units pay about $1,950 a month for a two-bedroom apartment and $2,150 for a three-bedroom unit, Hamilton said.
Mission Main residents have access to a variety of adult education, youth and employment programs – even smoking cessation classes, according to Hamilton. The residents can also use the computer learning center, which has 16 computers.
And Mission Main is co-owned by the developer and the residents.
“The Mission Main Task Force is a partner,” Hamilton said.
Management polices are not implemented without task force input and approval, she said.
In addition to the NAHMA’s recognition of Mission Main’s outstanding turnaround, the housing development also won RHA’s Community Excellence Award this year.
Besides Mission Main and Brandywyne Village, NAHMA also recognized Mayfield Manor, a community of 144 one-bedroom units for elderly and disabled people in Canton, Ohio.
